The planned skills utilisation workshop was also postponed due to the weather. This was intended to discuss the progress made in the current skills utilisation projects and to consider the emerging challenges in this area. This workshop is now taking place at the next Committee meeting on 3 March 2011 and a full write-up of the day will appear in the next edition of the newsletter. In this context, please note that the latest edition of the Skills Utilisation E-Bulletin (No. 7) was published by the Scottish Government in November 2010. It can be accessed by clicking here.

On 3 February 2011, and Scotland's Colleges held another key sector workshop at Cumbernauld College, this time on Financial Services. The workshop was well attended with some 30 participants and included representatives from the Financial Services Sector Skills Council (Financial Skills Partnership) and the CEO of Scottish Investment Operations. has been supporting the Financial Services sector to develop an industry skills demand statement, which workshop participants were introduced to.

Brian Lister, Principal of Stevenson College, and lead principal for this key sector, presented aspects of the collaborative response from Scotland's Colleges. The participants recognised the significant opportunities that the Financial Services sector offers and welcomed the increasingly joined-up approach between the industry and colleges. Based on the industry demand statement, are leading on preparing a skills investment plan for this sector and are also preparing the launch of the Financial Services Gateway - a website covering information on the range of opportunities and an insight into working life within the industry.

For the first time, the Committee considered a full key sector paper on the skills issues facing the Creative Industries. The paper identified three main areas of concern for the industry:

• whether new entrants into the industry have the skills to compete;
• how the sector can be best supported by the public sector; and
• how the industry can attract more talent.

The Committee identified the complexities involved in pulling together evidence for the 14 sub-sectors which make up the Creative Industries. The industry is dominated by SMEs and micro-businesses, which makes it difficult to identify the exact skills gaps. One suggestion was that it would be beneficial to distinguish what the vocational skills for the industry as a sector are and establish the potential to use creative media and other tools to improve communication skills. The Committee agreed that further analysis was needed to identify specific sector skills gaps and further work needs to be carried out in order to clarify what exactly is required to support the Creative Industries in addition to the significant investment that this sector already receives.

The Committee considered a comprehensive paper on skills issues in the energy sector, including a draft Skills Investment Plan. The Committee was joined by John McClelland and Christina Potter, Principal of Dundee College, for this discussion.

The draft Skills Investment Plan has been prepared by in consultation with a wide range of stakeholders in the public and private sectors. It highlights the future scale of opportunities in the energy sector to 2020 and beyond, the associated skills demand and issues relating to future supply. It also proposes some short, medium and long term actions to ensure that the right skills are available in the right places and in the required timeframes to take advantage of emerging opportunities in the sector.

The Committee strongly supports the overall direction of the Skills Investment Plan, and believes that it will be a very effective tool to help address skills issues in a sector that has the potential to make a significant contribution to future economic growth and job creation in Scotland. Given this potential, the Committee welcomed and supported John McClelland's view of the need to prioritise the sector in future skills investment decisions.

As part of the Committee's discussions, Christina Potter outlined a proposal by east coast colleges to provide a collaborative, coordinated approach to education and training provision for the renewables industry. While noting the significant challenges involved in funding the large volume of provision required for this industry, the Committee strongly supports and encourages this collaborative partnership response to addressing the energy sector's future skills needs, particularly given the highly constrained public spending environment. The Committee also encourages ongoing dialogue between colleges, universities and energy sector employers to ensure all parties are kept informed of future skills requirements, available provision expertise and potential inward investment commitments by industry.

In concluding its discussions, the Committee welcomed the approach that had been used in developing the draft Skills Investment Plan - intelligence-gathering, wide-spread consultation and resulting collaboration - and agreed that this is an effective model that could be used in addressing the skills needs of other sectors.

The outcomes from the Committee's discussions were conveyed to the Energy Advisory Board (chaired by First Minister and Principal Jim McDonald of Strathclyde University), at its meeting on 9 February 2011. In endorsing the Skills Investment Plan, the Board welcomed the Skills Committee's views and noted the collaborative, targeted approach proposed by the east coast colleges as an important development. A more detailed report will be provided to the Skills Committee at its next meeting.

The Skills Investment Plan will be published on the Skills Committee website once it has been formally launched. The Committee intends to revisit the Plan and its implementation on a regular basis.

The Tourism Framework For Change (TFFC) Skills Group has now established a series of sub-groups to develop action plans around the four key priority areas of the tourism action plan. These groups allow consultation with a wider cross-section of partners, employers and stakeholders and are led by Springboard (Attract new Talent), People 1st (Improve Skills), Scottish Tourism Forum (Customer Service) and HIT Scotland (Management and Leadership). Skills Development Scotland have supported Scotland's Colleges to engage with the TFFC action plan to ensure that colleges are working closely with the industry on the plan's implementation.

An extensive paper on the TFFC with the draft skills and action plan was presented at the August 2010 Committee meeting and can be found here.

The Scottish Food & Drink National Skills Academy was formally launched on 17 November 2010 by Keith Brown, Minster for Skills & Lifelong Learning. The project had been under development for two years and will focus on raising the profile of skills within the sector and stimulating demand among businesses and individuals. The executive reported on this project in the Committee's Annual Report 2009-10.

You can view the project website, which offers accessible and interactive advice to businesses on training solutions, here: Scotland Food & Drink Skills Academy. The project board is chaired by Committee member, Sylvia Halkerston, who contributed significantly to the development of the project and the effectiveness of the project advisory board.

The final evaluation report for the SFC-funded Delivering Change project met and exceeded the requirements outlined in the initial proposal. Following on from the positive results of the Delivering Change project; Cardonald College, as the project lead, begun work on the Skills in Textiles: Improving Skills, Employability and Workforce Development in the Textiles Industry project, through which it is intended to also forge stronger relationships with the  Edinburgh College of Art-led Fashion Academy.

The Scottish Academy of Fashion (SAF) have made significant progress during the period July-September 2010, with the remit of the Management Board being agreed, and Communications Officer and Project Coordinator roles confirmed. Towards the end of 2010, SAF were looking to establish their online presence, finalise project protocols and initiate three research project bids which would establish further engagement with industry.

The Life Sciences Skills Survey, commissioned by , is being prepared for publication. Once the quantitative element is finalised and published, some of the emerging challenges will be further explored on a qualitative basis with some 24 Life Sciences companies to test out the results and issues. Some initial data from the skills survey has already informed the SFC-funded Life Sciences skills utilisation project led by Dundee College. The project is progressing with the development of business advisors from across colleges, Sector Skills Councils and who will work closely with the companies to address their challenges. The challenges concern effective skills utilisation, how to deliver existing interventions and identify gaps in provision while continuing the overall development of a robust modular skills utilisation audit tool based on the information gained from these companies.

The sectors work in Life Sciences is relatively new, but it is beginning to take shape and show results. The executive intend to present a full sectors paper to the Committee at its next meeting in March 2011.

In spring 2010, Scottish Enterprise published the draft ICT Industry Strategy and Implementation Plan, which was endorsed by the ICT Industry Advisory Board. Both were discussed with stakeholders, including the SFC and SDS executives, on 11 November 2010. The strategy is available here.

Over the past few months, the Scottish ICT Industry Advisory Group has set up five implementation work streams covering each of the key areas set out in the industry strategy. These were primarily made up of volunteers from the industry with support from public sector organisations.

Attracting and retaining key skills, which includes ensuring a better match of skills to industry needs, is one of the five pillars of the industry strategy. Discussions are in progress between all partners, including SFC, SDS, e-skills UK and ScotlandIS to take forward the key skills area and how to utilise the significant investment that is already in the skills supply system, including the SFC-funded work placement project, part of the Learning to Work Two strategy to improve graduate employability.

Responding to the Strategic Forum and to business need, the Skills Committee set up an Action Group chaired by Linda McKay (Skills Committee member and Principal of Forth Valley College) to establish what needs to be done to improve the system of support for workforce development in Scotland. After collating and considering the evidence, the Action Group set out a Framework for Action which was endorsed by the Strategic Forum in November 2010. The implementation of the framework will deliver a system that is tailor-made (local and sectoral), responsive and agile, fitting to the Scottish system, and value for money.

The key recommendations in the framework focus on:

• designating a lead agency for workforce development in Scotland;

• defining the respective roles of all public agencies to be more clearly defined and adopting a co-ordinated approach;

• providing better information on public investment in workforce development related services, and improving co-ordination through aligned business planning and a focus on longer term outcomes; and

• increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the public offer by working with the private sector to encourage a greater ownership and co-investment in workforce development.

The full Framework for Action can be accessed via the following link: Workforce Development in Scotland: A Framework for Action.

Skills Development Scotland have begun to produce a monthly newsletter; Labour Market Focus, which forms part of its wider labour market service. It is targeted at those with an interest in the Scottish labour market and now has over 500 subscribers. You can subscribe to it by clicking here.

• 3 March 2011
• 19 May 2011
• 18 August 2011
• 3 November 2011
• 1 March 2012
• 31 May 2012

As ever, if you would like to find out more about our work in general, obtain further information on anything in this newsletter, or if you wish to contribute something yourself, please don't hesitate to email news and items to our Committee clerk, Amy Clark: aclark@sfc.ac.uk